Mummies alive!!
Aug. 12th, 2008 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteBack in Northridge again. I'm hoping it isn't a fruitless trip; I'm up here again so soon because I made an appointment with a brand-new doctor... who cancelled my appointment tomorrow afternoon while I was on the train coming up here. I'm hoping I can call early enough tomorrow morning to be notified of any other patients with ANY doctor that cancel. I basically just need a damn note saying I have sciatica and can't do intense walking when it's acting up, and that I'm allergic to the sanitizer and can't use it. Thing is, I left the sheet from the Cast First Aid that describes EXACTLY what doctor's notes have to say back "home" in Anahiem... along with the MSDS about the chemical. So I'm going to try and get at least one of those online right now. Got it. Either it's been a while or I'm not remembering the chemical name properly, because this thing clearly says it causes CHEMICAL BURNS, and anyone whose skin gets into contact with it should seek medical attention immediately. ...Anyone else sense something wrong with this whole predicament?
I woke up extra-early this morning to go to the Disneyland Ambassador session over at Team Disney Anaheim. Dressed up in "Disney Look," meaning skirt and collared shirt and hose... more or less stuff I would never wear these days, but I only do because I have no choice. Being stuck in a costume these days means I take any chance I can to wear flip-flops, jeans, etc. rather than the sort of clothes I used to love (like those aforementioned skirts and collared shirts).
Anyway, the whole thing was pointless for me; I'm not even eligible for the role. It was a bit embarrassing to be the only person who didn't take an application packet, but I figured it was a waste of (their) time and paper to take one if I know they can easily find out I haven't worked for a whole year at Disneyland yet. On the one hand, I should have guessed that any Ambassador would have tons of experience under their belt, and I've really been working at the resort for just about 3 months. But on the other hand, they could have bothered to put those eligibility requirements on the online posting about the info session, so I would have just taken one look at it and said "Oh, I won't even bother going to the info session." Seriously, I found out about the eligibility requirements 20 minutes into the allotted hour, and was supremely tempted to just grab my things and go. But I stayed and listened. If anything, everything I learned would be good reference if I stuck with the Disney Company or otherwise got employed by them after the college program. That's a big "if," because they'd have to offer me something OTHER than retail (after all, wtf does retail have to do with journalism? NOTHING! They could have put me in their Marketing, Media, Public Relations, etc. departments, but no. They have me folding SHIRTS).
Also: Ben W-T got the gold in the Men's 4 x 100m freestyle swim! I KNEW IT~! (I don't know why, the guy just inspires confidence. Maybe he's like Naruto: "he makes you want to bet on him." Except not REALLY bet, with money involved, just "be assured" that he's going to win.) Checked out his Facebook on a whim; I'm only moderately surprised he's got the profile locked (hey, I do too, and I'm no swimming soon-to-be superstar), if only because that cuts off his PHANGIRLS from messaging him left and right. Meh, I don't want to be seen as mooching off his fame or anything; I'm content just knowing he's going to continue to kick ass in Beijing. :)
Just saw The Mummy 3 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) with Grandpa. Grandpa wanted to see a "comedy," (seriously, for a guy that spends half his day reading books about old wars or watching TV shows about the same, his taste in movies is pretty off) but "The Mummy" was pretty much all that was playing at the right time; "Mamma Mia" and "WALL·E" were playing at similar times, but Grandpa didn't want to see either of those, and Baba didn't want to go at all.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I think if you go to a movie like "The Mummy" and expect a highly original plot and something Oscar-worthy, you're going to be disappointed. But I did like it a lot better than "The Mummy 2," mainly because the CG kicked ass. Also, the whole movie was much more scenic (probably helped that they were in a snowy climate for much of the movie, vs. the rather always-looks-sandy deserts of Egypt). I think everyone got their fair turn to fight: not just Brendan Fraser (Rick O'Connell), but also Maria Bello (Evelyn O'Connell), Luke Ford (Alex O'Connell), Michelle Yeoh (Zi Yuan), and Isabella Leong (Lin).
Maria Bello did an astonishingly good job as Evey; from the trailers, I was pretty upset that Rachel Weisz wasn't in that role again, and I worried that the writers would "kill" Evey off and replace her with whomever Bello was going to play. But instead they just had Bello play Evey, and while a lot of the time that can spell doom (or just plain confusion; anyone remember the original Jimmy from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman? I liked him a lot, and the "new guy" confused me, even though I ultimately ended up liking him better. I think with Bello and Weisz, I like them both equally; Bello did a good job portraying a mom who's really trying hard to keep her family together and somehow juggle a "normal" life after she basically went from run-of-the-mill klutzy librarian to reincarnated Egyptian princess with unique fighting abilities and loads of ancient knowledge to dynamic sexy espionage agent for the British government to rich, romance novel-writing mom.
Fraser is ageless, though. It's really hard to imagine that this movie is meant to be 20+ years later for his character, and I can see why casting Ford might have been a bad decision, even though Ford played his part (as both "Rick O'Connell's son" and "immature dropout") pretty well. It's hard to reconcile the fact that Fraser hardly seems to have aged, while Alex... cute little Alex! is all of a sudden this... er, lunky sort of guy with his dad's attitude and taste for firearms.
There's room for more "Mummy," mind you: the movie left off implying mummies were found in Peru, where hapless Jonathan went with his giant blue diamond. And with "Dash and Scarlett" (aka Alex and Lin) off starting their own adventure, there's plenty of availability for more movies. But I'd actually prefer to see more exploration of
a) the years prior to Alex's birth
and/or
b) more years as Alex was growing up, Mom and Dad O'Connell were running espionage missions, Evey was starting to write novels, and Rick was trying to find "a new hobby" when the majority of his life had been, up to that point, filled with adventure.
It'd also be cool to explore more of the Medjai concept that only lightly got touched on in "The Mummy 2." We never know just how young Rick ended up with the Medjai tattoo in the orphanage (or why it stayed so pristine looking during all those years), what happened to his real parents, or what the other Medjai are up to, now that "The Mummy" and the "Scorpion King" are both gone/sealed away "for good."
I wonder if there are Mummy novels?
Anyway, overall, I liked it: it was a good romp, very fun. Grandpa said he would have liked it had he been younger, but at least he didn't fall asleep. He thinks I got too excited over everything (like the explosions! WHEE!), but I just like historical action-adventure movies. :)
I woke up extra-early this morning to go to the Disneyland Ambassador session over at Team Disney Anaheim. Dressed up in "Disney Look," meaning skirt and collared shirt and hose... more or less stuff I would never wear these days, but I only do because I have no choice. Being stuck in a costume these days means I take any chance I can to wear flip-flops, jeans, etc. rather than the sort of clothes I used to love (like those aforementioned skirts and collared shirts).
Anyway, the whole thing was pointless for me; I'm not even eligible for the role. It was a bit embarrassing to be the only person who didn't take an application packet, but I figured it was a waste of (their) time and paper to take one if I know they can easily find out I haven't worked for a whole year at Disneyland yet. On the one hand, I should have guessed that any Ambassador would have tons of experience under their belt, and I've really been working at the resort for just about 3 months. But on the other hand, they could have bothered to put those eligibility requirements on the online posting about the info session, so I would have just taken one look at it and said "Oh, I won't even bother going to the info session." Seriously, I found out about the eligibility requirements 20 minutes into the allotted hour, and was supremely tempted to just grab my things and go. But I stayed and listened. If anything, everything I learned would be good reference if I stuck with the Disney Company or otherwise got employed by them after the college program. That's a big "if," because they'd have to offer me something OTHER than retail (after all, wtf does retail have to do with journalism? NOTHING! They could have put me in their Marketing, Media, Public Relations, etc. departments, but no. They have me folding SHIRTS).
Also: Ben W-T got the gold in the Men's 4 x 100m freestyle swim! I KNEW IT~! (I don't know why, the guy just inspires confidence. Maybe he's like Naruto: "he makes you want to bet on him." Except not REALLY bet, with money involved, just "be assured" that he's going to win.) Checked out his Facebook on a whim; I'm only moderately surprised he's got the profile locked (hey, I do too, and I'm no swimming soon-to-be superstar), if only because that cuts off his PHANGIRLS from messaging him left and right. Meh, I don't want to be seen as mooching off his fame or anything; I'm content just knowing he's going to continue to kick ass in Beijing. :)
Just saw The Mummy 3 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) with Grandpa. Grandpa wanted to see a "comedy," (seriously, for a guy that spends half his day reading books about old wars or watching TV shows about the same, his taste in movies is pretty off) but "The Mummy" was pretty much all that was playing at the right time; "Mamma Mia" and "WALL·E" were playing at similar times, but Grandpa didn't want to see either of those, and Baba didn't want to go at all.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I think if you go to a movie like "The Mummy" and expect a highly original plot and something Oscar-worthy, you're going to be disappointed. But I did like it a lot better than "The Mummy 2," mainly because the CG kicked ass. Also, the whole movie was much more scenic (probably helped that they were in a snowy climate for much of the movie, vs. the rather always-looks-sandy deserts of Egypt). I think everyone got their fair turn to fight: not just Brendan Fraser (Rick O'Connell), but also Maria Bello (Evelyn O'Connell), Luke Ford (Alex O'Connell), Michelle Yeoh (Zi Yuan), and Isabella Leong (Lin).
Maria Bello did an astonishingly good job as Evey; from the trailers, I was pretty upset that Rachel Weisz wasn't in that role again, and I worried that the writers would "kill" Evey off and replace her with whomever Bello was going to play. But instead they just had Bello play Evey, and while a lot of the time that can spell doom (or just plain confusion; anyone remember the original Jimmy from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman? I liked him a lot, and the "new guy" confused me, even though I ultimately ended up liking him better. I think with Bello and Weisz, I like them both equally; Bello did a good job portraying a mom who's really trying hard to keep her family together and somehow juggle a "normal" life after she basically went from run-of-the-mill klutzy librarian to reincarnated Egyptian princess with unique fighting abilities and loads of ancient knowledge to dynamic sexy espionage agent for the British government to rich, romance novel-writing mom.
Fraser is ageless, though. It's really hard to imagine that this movie is meant to be 20+ years later for his character, and I can see why casting Ford might have been a bad decision, even though Ford played his part (as both "Rick O'Connell's son" and "immature dropout") pretty well. It's hard to reconcile the fact that Fraser hardly seems to have aged, while Alex... cute little Alex! is all of a sudden this... er, lunky sort of guy with his dad's attitude and taste for firearms.
There's room for more "Mummy," mind you: the movie left off implying mummies were found in Peru, where hapless Jonathan went with his giant blue diamond. And with "Dash and Scarlett" (aka Alex and Lin) off starting their own adventure, there's plenty of availability for more movies. But I'd actually prefer to see more exploration of
a) the years prior to Alex's birth
and/or
b) more years as Alex was growing up, Mom and Dad O'Connell were running espionage missions, Evey was starting to write novels, and Rick was trying to find "a new hobby" when the majority of his life had been, up to that point, filled with adventure.
It'd also be cool to explore more of the Medjai concept that only lightly got touched on in "The Mummy 2." We never know just how young Rick ended up with the Medjai tattoo in the orphanage (or why it stayed so pristine looking during all those years), what happened to his real parents, or what the other Medjai are up to, now that "The Mummy" and the "Scorpion King" are both gone/sealed away "for good."
I wonder if there are Mummy novels?
Anyway, overall, I liked it: it was a good romp, very fun. Grandpa said he would have liked it had he been younger, but at least he didn't fall asleep. He thinks I got too excited over everything (like the explosions! WHEE!), but I just like historical action-adventure movies. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 02:15 pm (UTC)(I personally was confused by Jet Li's appearing/disappearing mustache.)
I do think the other movies had more humorous moments, but it wasn't as if this movie was lacking in them completely.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 03:41 pm (UTC)